This is a blog I feel like I should write. You may have noticed that I have written for a while. It's because I had a pretty health issue come up which I've been battling. I'll be back on track soon.
About two years ago, I began a journey that I would rather have not taken. It all started when I had three wisdom teeth removed. Little did I know at that time that having these teeth removed would be the least of my worries. I want to tell you that I believe in God, and I also believe that God can steer our ships when we can’t even see where we are going. In the midst of my recovery from having my teeth removed, I kept sensing that there was something else wrong with me. I had no overt signs, just a little voice telling me.
Though no doctor ordered one, I asked my doctor to give me a PSA test. It is important that you realize that if I hadn’t gotten that test then and there, it might have been years before a doctor ordered one. I believe that this voice I heard was God in some way talking to me. When I got the results, my PSA level was 6.7. Normal is three or less.
I went to a urologist, and to make a long story short, I had a biopsy. It came back positive, but fortunately for me, it was a level one. This is the lowest level in which something can actually be classified as cancer. If I had not asked for the PSA test, this cancer would not have been found until maybe three or four years later. Prostate cancer grows slowly I know, but three years is a long time.
My doctor, my wife, and I agreed that I would go on active surveillance which meant constant monitoring, PSA tests every three months for a year and then every six months thereafter. A biopsy every year. My first year with active surveillance passed without incident, and when I had my second biopsy, things seemed to be about the same. Still, I was noticing some new things – nothing extremely bad – but still some changes. God’s quiet voice came back to me.
My doctor said that we would wait for six months before we had a new PSA. I thought about that for a minute, and then I told him, I didn’t feel comfortable waiting for that long. So we set up another test for three months, but this test was a different kind of PSA test. When the results came back the PSA number had climbed back over 5 and the test didn’t look good in other ways. My doctor wanted me to get an MRI done to see if anything else was going on. By this time, I had almost made up my mind to get the surgery.
The MRI came back and revealed that the cancer was in another part of my prostate that wasn’t detected in the biopsy, and surgery was recommended. I wondered what would have happened had I waited that six months instead of three. Maybe it wouldn’t have made that much difference, I don’t know. Still, when I believe God is talking to me, I don’t usually ignore it.
I had my surgery, and today I went back to the doctor. The cancer was removed completely and I do not need any further treatment.
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